Matt Evans is waiting for a new heart.

Most of us would imagine that kind of news changes everything. It certainly has for Evans. His days are now filled with medications, tests, doctor visits and the reality that his heart is slowly failing. But if you ask him what this journey has taught him, he doesn't begin with medicine. He begins with purpose.

"I know I'll be healed," Evans said. "It will either be on this side of glory or the other."

His journey began in 2018 with a devastating stroke.

One day, Evans was living a normal life. The next, he was paralyzed on his left side. Doctors told him he might never walk again. Nine months of therapy and hard work followed before he regained much of what he had lost.

Physically, he recovered. Emotionally, the battle was just beginning. Unable to work and dependent on others, Evans struggled with depression. His wife Kathy was carrying a heavy load of her own. While helping care for Matt, she was also spending countless hours in Lima with her father, who was in hospice care.

When Evans became eligible for rehabilitation, he requested a transfer to Lima simply to make life easier for his wife.

During that difficult season, he wrestled with questions many believers quietly ask.

"Why God? What purpose do I have now?"

A hospital chaplain listened as Evans poured out his frustrations. The chaplain offered a simple response. "A man who preaches from a wheelchair is someone I just might listen to.” At the time, Evans wasn't sure what to do with those words.